Local girl stars in first feature film

Logan Browning never owned any Bratz dolls before she was cast to play Sasha in the movie adaptation of the doll series. “I had played with them when I babysat,” she said, but she now has several in her room at home. Browning, a recent graduate of Fayette County High School, spent her freshman and sophomore years in Los Angeles working in television but returned home to complete high school. When she heard about a potential role in “Bratz” she flew out to Los Angeles several times for auditions and got the part. “Bratz” debuted last Friday in tenth place with $4.3 million, but Browning’s career seems nonetheless on the rise.

“Even before ‘Bratz’ I considered myself a role model for younger girls,” Browning said as she talked with several journalists in her suite at the InterContinental Buckhead Hotel. Browning, her high school’s homecoming queen last year, is an affable person with a conversational ease and ebullient personality that helped her land the role of Sasha in “Bratz.”

The filming began in February and was conducted briskly over six weeks. Browning described Sasha with words like “trendy,” “outoing,” “classy,” and “glamorous,” but emphasized the message sent by the character: “It breaks the stereotype because a lot of African American girls are cast as very in-your-face and rude characters, and she’s not that at all. If you could relate her to a celebrity it would be Beyoncé,” whose style she called “red-carpet-ready.”

“Bratz” tells of four fashion-conscious high school girls navigating through cliques and other threats to their friendship. Criticism of the materialism and innuendo promoted by the dolls has come from some quarters, but Browning disagrees. “There are so many messages in this film. A few of them are sticking close to your friends and your family, believing in yourself, following your dreams, embracing diversity. Each of the girls in the movie actually has a different family lifestyle, different interests, and a different nationality.”

The trappings of celebrity are gradually becoming apparent to Browning, who worked with Jon Voigt in “Bratz,” saying of him, “He’s a star. He’s a legend. He would come to the set in character so he wouldn’t be Jon Voigt. He would be Principal Dimly [his character in the movie], which is hilarious, and he really taught you how to be focused and to enjoy acting.” Just as her fame in “Bratz” may make her an idol to little girls, and she now has a Wikipedia biography, Browning too has idols. She saw Della Reese, the singer and actress, at McCormick & Schmick’s in Los Angeles and asked for her autograph. She has enormous respect for Johnny Depp, too, saying, “I would be so thrilled if Johnny Depp wanted me on his arm for a red carpet premiere.”

As the fall approaches Browning is preparing to attend Vanderbilt University in Nashville. She described her plans this way: “I have to say that my personal goal is to become successful, graduate from college, become a successful actress, to where I can have some name recognition, and then be a spokesperson for something.” Her favored cause may be adoption promotion, and her favored charitable role models include Oprah and Halle Berry, but for now Logan Browning is basking in the pleasure of her first movie.

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